2 indicted for allegedly defrauding filmmaker

DOWNEY -- Two Southern California men - one from Downey - have been indicted for allegedly defrauding Lionsgate Entertainment out of $2 million in a kickback scheme involving the purchases of cardboard advertising displays.

The FBI says 31-year-old Roccia James Cuccia of Downey and Larry D. Collins of Northridge were arrested Friday. They face charges including wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

Cuccia worked as a buyer at Lionsgate, a Santa Monica-based film company. The indictment says Cuccia used Collins as a vendor to supply cardboard advertising used to display Lionsgate movies at retail stores.

Cuccia is accused of altering company computer files to artificially inflate the size of the orders, and therefore the payments, that went to Collins. In return, authorities say, Collins wired a portion of the money to Cuccia's bank account.